NIR Spectroscopy Aids in the Diagnosis of Neonatal Brain Injury

British Research Group’s Near-Infrared Spectroscopy System Aids in Diagnosis of Neonatal Brain Injury by Using High-Throughput, Lens-Based Spectrograph and Cooled, Low-Noise CCD Camera from Princeton Instruments.

Princeton Instruments is pleased to recognize the work of British researchers affiliated with both the Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering, University College London, as well as the Institute for Women’s Health, University College London and Neonatal Unit, University College London Hospitals Trust, who recently designed and tested a near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) system to aid in the diagnosis of neonatal brain injury.

The novel bedside system, known as CYRIL (short for “CYtochrome Research Instrument and AppLication”), simultaneously measures cerebral changes in tissue oxygenation and hemodynamics by estimating the changes in hemoglobin concentration. The portable system also tracks oxygen utilization by measuring the oxidation state of cytochrome-c-oxidase (CCO), which is responsible for >95% of oxygen metabolism in the body.

A study conducted at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) demonstrating the in vivo measurement capabilities of the CYRIL system is reported in a 2014 article* published in Biomedical Optics Express. Quantitative NIRS data acquired by CYRIL at the same time as systemic data (thus permitting multimodal data analysis) in a cohort of six newborn infants with neonatal encephalopathy indicated that the relationship between hemoglobin oxygenation changes and CCO oxidation changes during spontaneous oxygen desaturation events was significantly correlated with a magnetic-resonance-spectroscopy–measured biomarker of injury severity.

Examples of the intensity spectra recorded with the CYRIL system and the corresponding change in attenuation between them are presented here.*

* Data courtesy of Dr. Ilias Tachtsidis, University College London. First published in Biomedical Optics Express 5(10), 3450–3466 (2014). For more complete data and a comprehensive discussion of the Baby Brain Study conducted at UCLH in London, please refer to www.osapublishing.org/boe/abstract.cfm?URI=boe-5-10-3450.